This fourth volume of the gradually evolving Fauré series from Eric Le Sage et al could have been something of a dog’s dinner, a mopping-up exercise. It begins conventionally enough with the works for piano four hands: Dolly, of course, but also the less often encountered Masques et bergamasques – better known in its orchestral garb – which is persuasively played by Le Sage and Tharaud. They launch into Fauré’s snide dig at Wagner, Souvenirs de Bayreuth, with irresistible élan. And the presence of Emmanuel Pahud is luxury casting, somehow making the most familiar sound fresh – his Fantaisie limpid and airy, the Sicilienne given with a simplicity (by pianist as much as wind player) combined with a quiet ardour that is most winning, while the Morceau – hardly up there with Fauré’s most distinguished pieces – is beautifully phrased and coloured.

If Isserlis is a more characterful interpreter of ‘Après un rêve’ and the Sicilienne than the players here, the highlight of the disc is surely the late Piano Trio. In its grave Andantino the two string players are superbly reactive, very much in the spirit of the Capuçon brothers, the music’s searing pain barely held in check. And in terms of pure colour this reading gives Trio George Sand and the Florestan a run for their money. The anguished finale is potently conveyed, too; the impact of Fauré’s extraordinarily angular writing strengthened by the sheer ardour of the playing.